communications - Canwest
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CanWest s bonds at one point traded for as little as 15 cents on the dollar. Throughout the 1990s, Global (and communications its antecedents) held Canadian rights to hit U.S.
Specialty channels operated in partnership with other companies (such as TVtropolis, Mystery TV, MenTV, and the former Alliance Atlantis properties) are also not included in the present filing. In 1999, seeking to change this, the company announced a deal to communications buy out the Canadian partners of NetStar Communications, owner of TSN, but was stymied by U.S.
ESPN instead came to terms with Canwest s main rival CTV, a longtime business partner of ESPN s parent company Disney, as an acceptable buyer, which the selling partners eventually agreed to. In Oct 2005, CanWest s Canadian newspapers were sold into an IPO trust. Attached to the Canadian newspaper IPO was $850 million in long term debt.
By early 2009, it became clear the company s debt was not manageable in light of the global economic crisis, forcing Canwest into an extended set of negotiations with its lenders and a series of cost-cutting moves. partner ESPN, which had veto power over such a sale.
Several sources say that as CanWest notes increased fivefold in price, distressed-debt funds took profits on part of their position, with Angelo Gordon among the buyers. On Feb 3, 2010, it was reported that a group led by Golden Tree Asset Management LP complained that it was unfairly frozen out of the auction of Canwest Limited Partnership. As part of the transaction, Canwest and some of its subsidiaries, including Canwest Media Inc., The National Post Company, and Canwest Television LP (the licensee of Global, MovieTime, DejaView, and Fox Sports World Canada) filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Canwest founder Izzy Asper was known as a strong supporter of both Canada s Liberal Party and Israel s right-wing Likud party, and of many laissez-faire policies in both countries.
The company s newspapers are not part of the Shaw deal and will be sold separately. Late February 2010, the Asper family with Goldman and Catalyst made their own bid to retake CanWest with a $120 Million bid in competition with bid proposed by Shaw Communications. Current members of the board of directors of the company are David Drybrough, Leonard Asper, Lloyd Barber, Derek Burney, Robert Daniels, Frank King, and Paul Godfrey. Former members of the board of directors of the company include Izzy Asper, Lisa Pankratz, Frank McKenna, David Asper, and Gail Asper. Canwest is often cited as an example of how the ownership of Canadian media has become concentrated in the hands of a few individuals and large corporations. A 2001 decision to run regular uniform national editorials in all metropolitan dailies (except National Post), whereby local editorial boards could not take local positions on subjects of national editorials, ignited major national controversy and was subsequently withdrawn. Conflict over Canwest editorial control and policy has focused in particular on three issues: Upon acquiring Southam s Newspapers from Hollinger International, Israel Asper continued Conrad Black s policy of blacklisting influential Canadian world and military affairs journalist Gwynne Dyer s internationally published articles.
Sold 25.8% of Canada s newspapers for C$550 million. In June 1996, Canwest was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Lacking a presence in Alberta, the company also went on an extended takeover pursuit of Western International Communications, which owned several independent stations in that province, in the late 1990s, eventually securing that company s broadcast television assets in 2000 Canwest was initially slow to invest in specialty channels due to the strength of its terrestrial network.
Until recently, standard industry practise was that freelancers sold the rights for one time use and only in Canada. Since the 2000 acquisition of the major former Canadian newspaper holdings of Conrad Black s Hollinger International (now Sun-Times Media Group), including Canwest News Service, opposition has been expressed by some journalists, union spokespersons, politicians, and pundits about Canwest s enforcement of its corporate editorial positions. By 2007, the company s bonds were downgraded to junk status.
Partially as a response to this, Dyer published a collection of his articles on the Middle East and related topics called With Every Mistake in 2005. Canwest newspapers and broadcast outlets in British Columbia are regularly criticized for giving a free ride to the BC Liberal government of Premier Gordon Campbell, especially in relation to the scandals and controversies ensuing from the privatization of BC Rail but also in cooperating with the government s manipulation of information for political purposes, such as the suppression of the actual scale of the deficit or welfare rates in advance of the 2009 election. This brand was extended to Canwest stations throughout the country in 1997.
In Jan 2010, CanWest s bonds commanded about 70 cents on the dollar. Canwest Global Communications Corporation (TSX: CGS, TSX: CGS.A), operating under the corporate brand Canwest, is one of Canada s largest international media companies .
series such as Cheers, Friends, and Frasier, making it the top-rated programming service in major markets like Toronto and Vancouver. Canwest also bought broadcasting assets internationally, including outlets in New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, and Australia, although all were eventually sold off. Asper, through his company, Canwest, eventually bought out his partners in the Winnipeg station, and subsequently invested in or acquired other independent TV stations across Canada, including an Ontario station known as the Global Television Network .
This antipathy was prompted by Dyer s views on conflict in the Middle East and his opposition to neoconservatism, which run contrary to the ideological views of Asper and others on Canwest s board of directors then and today. Goldman retained or resold the remaining pieces of AAC, the distribution arm soon re-emerging as Alliance Films. Canwest executives testified in the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission hearings over fee-for-carriage, requesting that the commission force cable and satellite companies to pay for their signals without passing the fees on to their subscribers.
Canwest is one of the major campaign contributors to the BC Liberal party and gives regular column space to pundits from the think tank Fraser Institute (one such regular contributor being the Premier s brother, Michael). . CanWest bought back the 25.8% Newspaper Trust IPO (and debt) in Nov 2008, for cash considerations of $495 million. The company was already one of the largest owners of Canadian local TV stations, when Canwest and Goldman Sachs in 2007 announced they would jointly acquire Canadian producer and broadcaster Alliance Atlantis Communications and its large stable of wide-distribution specialty channels.
Three of the former E! owned-and-operated stations – CHCH Hamilton, CHEK Victoria, and CJNT Montreal – were sold to third parties, while a fourth, CHBC Kelowna, was converted to a Global station. As early as 2002, most of Canwest s operating income was going to pay interest on its high-interest rate debt.
Canwest Limited Partnership, a subsidiary which owns the company s other newspaper assets and online properties, is negotiating separately with creditors, and is expected to file for creditor protection at a later date. The company s head office is situated in Winnipeg, Manitoba at Canwest Place. Canwest owns, in whole or part, a variety of Canadian media assets, including: In 1974, a group led by Israel Asper bought the assets of Pembina, North Dakota television station KCND-TV, moving the station to Winnipeg as independent station CKND-TV.
C$428 million in 2008). On August 31, 2009, Canwest shut down its secondary system E! (the former CH). In his testimony, Canwest president Leonard Asper blamed the current rules for the poor financial condition of Canada s broadcast television stations. Canwest s various acquisitions took a significant financial toll.
Canwest shares were also suspended from trading on the TSX. Canwest is not being liquidated at this time, and the company currently insists that CanWest shareholders giving up their ownership of CanWest will make Canwest a stronger industry competitor with a renewed financial outlook. Nevertheless, some analysts expect that the conglomerate will sell assets or be broken up entirely as the restructuring process continues, in part because the publishing division has a separate set of lenders. In early February 2010, the company announced an agreement with Shaw Communications whereby the latter company will buy an 80% voting interest, and 20% equity interest, in the restructured entity, pending approvals from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and others. In 1991, Canwest issued a successful initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Observers have suggested that Asper s political views have had a significant impact on news coverage at CanWest media outlets. Under the deal, Canwest took control of the broadcasting portion of AAC, although Goldman Sachs remained a major investor in those assets.
Conversely, coverage of the New Democratic Party is criticized as being unfairly negative. The remaining station, CHCA Red Deer, was closed as of the same date. On September 24, the company announced that it would sell its 50.1% stake in Ten Network Holdings for A$680 million dollars, On October 6, the company voluntarily filed for creditor protection under the CCAA.
